Welcome to my first ever blog post. You may know me from other sites as 'ggctuk', or by my real name 'Gareth'. This blog is a space for me to write whatever I want to write, outside the limits that Facebook can impose.
The first topic I want to touch upon is Star Wars Battlefront, developed by DICE and released on the 19th November (17th in the USA). The game is the first Star Wars Battlefront console title in ten years, after many failed attempts by various developers to create a third title in the franchise.
I'll give you a little backstory. Twelve years ago, Pandemic Studios were inspired by "Battlefield 1942" to create their own version, which they titled "Star Wars: Battlefront". It was released in 2004 on PC, PS2, XBox and GameCube, featuring ten planets and sixteen maps, as well as two eras: the Clone Wars, the era first seen in the film "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones", and the Galactic Civil War, the era depicted in the original three Star Wars films. You could pretty much play any way you liked, hop into any vehicle or take on the enemy on the ground. It was so popular, it saw mod tools released which enabled users to create their own maps on the PC version, and it did not take long before a sequel was announced. "Star Wars: Battlefront II" was released in November 2005, to coincide with the Star Wars Episode III home video release. It expanded upon the first game, including a sixth unit per faction, new modes, playable heroes and locations from the new film. Again, there were mod tools, which have kept the game alive for ten years as users continue to create new content inspired by both the films and the expanded universe.
For a long time, there was talk of a third game in the Battlefront series. During the wait, a PSP-only title, "Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron", developed by Rebellion Developments, was released, though it wasn't as well-received as the previous games, partially because the series did not lend itself well to the PSP, and partly because it played somewhat differently to the previous games, forgoing the class system in favour of a customisation approach which saw players choose their own weapons loadouts and appearances.
Pandemic was sold off to Electronic Arts, and LucasArts approached developer Free Radical, creators of the Crytek series, to develop the third game for the Battlefront franchise. Free Radical's game had seamless ground-to-space combat and a campaign mode that introduced the characters of X1 and X2, clone troopers made from the genetic samples of a Jedi. Accounts conflict as to what happened, but what is certain is that LucasArts pulled the plug on Free Radical during development, resulting in the cancelling of the game and the near-death of Free Radical. LucasArts then took the game to Rebellion, who attempted to continue the game but in the end cannibalised the game and created "Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron" from it.
For a long time, it was up in the air as to who would attempt to create the next console Star Wars: Battlefront title. LucasArts themselves would eventually try to take it on themselves, first with a 'tester' game called Star Wars: First Assault", then with a second game they intended on turning into Star Wars: Battlefront III, called "Version Two".
But of course, the title curse struck LucasArts too. Ironically, LucasArts ultimately received the same fate it bestowed upon Free Radical. Disney bought LucasFilm in 2012 and proceeded to shut down LucasArts and all of its projects (including Star Wars 1313). Disney would hand the license for Star Wars games over to EA, and DICE were chosen to build the first game in a relaunched and rebooted Star Wars Battlefront franchise.
And that brings us to the review. Having had the game for two weeks now, I can safely say that I have not played an online shooter before, so did not know what to expect. The game centres on the Galactic Civil War era only, with four planets chosen from that era.
First, let's look at the single player experience. DICE have forgone the campaign for the single player component, instead opting to include a series of 'Missions' that have the player stacked up against AI adversaries. It is a reference to the Instant Action of the old games but it is not the same thing. None of the multiplayer modes are available in single player (there are actually calls to include Walker Assault in single player as DLC). In total, you get five training missions, four 'Battle' missions, four 'Hero Battle' missions and four 'Survival' missions. DLC expansions so far have not included any new content for single player, and it does almost seem like single player is an afterthought, never to be expanded on in this title.
Multiplayer is where the meat of the game is. I haven't played all the modes, but the ones I have played - Cargo, Blast, Heroes Versus Villains and Walker Assault - are usually pretty full modes. Having said that, effectively there are only two maps per planet (though Endor and Hoth actually have three), bringing the total of maps in the game up to ten - that's six less than the original game. Jakku's DLC, which released yesterday, brings it up to twelve, and we are assured additional maps will be made available, some free of charge, at a later date.
The game forgoes the class system completely, opting instead for a customsation system that has you pick a blaster of your choice (though many are locked behind a levelling system) and assemble a 'star card hand' made up of three Star Cards, which are power ups that grant you extra abilities or weapons. Additional weapons or powerups can be found on the maps in the form of tokens, and these can not only give you weapons or extra powers, but you can also take control of vehicles through these (there is no "walk up to a vehicle and get in" in this game)
You choose your appearance as well, but as with weapons and star cars a lot of these are locked behind the levelling system, and the selection is a little poor, especially for the Empire, who only get the Scout Trooper and Shadow Trooper after the apparently obligatory many human faces (you ever see a Stormtrooper with his/her helmet off in the films? I didn't think so).
The spawns can be quite messy when it comes to certain modes. I've lost count of the number of times I've spawned, only to die instantly because there was an enemy feet away from my spawning position or a thermal detonator that had just been thrown.
There are not many vehicles in this game at all. You have TIE Fighters, TIE Interceptors and AT-STs if you're playing as the Empire, while the Rebels get X-Wings, A-Wings and T-45 Airspeeders (alos known as Snowspeeders but they appear on Sullust and Tatooine as well). The Rebels have absolutely no ground vehicles whatsoever, which to me is not that great. I can understand why: DICE are trying to stick to the films, and these were what the Rebels and the Empire had in the films. Another point to make is that in Walker Assault, the AT-ATs are entirely on-rails, and you only get to spend a small amount of time at the guns of one if you pick up the token. This at first got people upset, but it's understandable: the walkers need to make it across the map, and given that they are invincible save for three points during Walker Assault, it wouldn't be fair if you were in them until you decided to bail.
Has any of this diminished by enjoyment of the game? No, it has not. Would I reccomend this game? yes, but not at its current price tag, and that is because of the lack of content that the game has at launch. DICE have confirmed that there will be more content released free of charge, and they have also announced four expansion packs as part of the Season Pass. Given the current state of the game, I am assigning it a 7/10. It's not the best game, and content-wise the older games certainly have more, even setting aside the user-created content those games have, but there is room for improvement and I am really hoping DICE takes a lot of this to heart when they create the next game, or even the Season Pass content.
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